


My Best Friend

by commandershakarian



Series: Mass Effect one shots [14]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-04
Updated: 2015-11-04
Packaged: 2018-04-29 20:28:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5141480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/commandershakarian/pseuds/commandershakarian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a writing commission for @lightfiends of their Kara Shepard and Garrus Vakarian. It is set during ME1 and it’s before Kara realizes she has feelings for Garrus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Best Friend

Garrus Vakarian could hear the noise that Kara Shepard was making in Engineering. The constant rapping was something he’d gotten used to over the past few weeks, but hearing it tonight worried him. The Commander was running herself ragged, her worries over finding and stopping Saren controlling everything she did while she was awake.

To make the situation even more concerning, Garrus couldn’t recall seeing Shepard retire to her bed once in the last couple days. Humans and turians slept on different schedules so he would remember if she had left Engineering at all. With a quiet sigh, Garrus left his calibrations and headed for room the sounds were originating from.

The door opened with a hiss, leaving Garrus feeling exposed in the quiet ship. His eyes took in the bright, neon blue of the drive core. It was dazzling to look at and he watched the ripples of light and energy for a moment. Then the tapping started again.

He didn’t know what he was going to say to Shepard, but he knew that he couldn’t let her continue on like this.

The turian found her sitting in front of the drive core, the controls suspended above her. Her legs were crossed as she sat, her back to him when he entered the room. A collection of tools sat beside her on the floor.

“Come to check on me?” Her voice greeted him. She didn’t meet his gaze, however. Kara Shepard was leaning forward, her hands working a pair of wires into knots.

Garrus wasn’t sure what she was doing, but she was certainly into whatever it was. “Have you slept?”

“I don’t need to sleep, Garrus. I was bred to be military.” Kara snipped something that Garrus hoped wasn’t important. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“Wondering what you’re doing.” Garrus stared at the wires he had just noticed laying on the ground in front of her. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to increase the FTL drives. I still think we can get some more juice out of them.” Kara finally glanced at Garrus, her auburn hair falling from her ponytail as she did so.

Garrus had to admit, he had never seen her look more beautiful. “Does Engineer Adams know you are playing with his drive core?”

Kara smirked at him, a playful glint in her emerald eyes. “What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him.”

Garrus chuckled before approaching where she sat, her hair a mess and a goofy look on her face. “It’ll be our little secret.”

Shepard laughed as she turned back to her work. “So tell me, Vakarian, what made you decide to come watch me destroy the ship?”

“I was bored?” He attempted, unable to help the smile that came over him. He sat down beside her, watching her work diligently. Being as physically close as he was to Shepard was a completely new experience. Sure, they had one another’s backs in a firefight, but to be sitting next to her in such a manner was nearly foreign. He was enjoying it more than he’d expected.

Kara shook her head, a bright smile on her face. “Thanks, Garrus. I’m the person you come to when bored. I see how it is.”

“That’s a compliment. I swear.” His gaze went to her hands where she was working the wire she held. “You’re good at that.”

Kara’s smile widened. “Thanks. As much as I love my rifle, there is something relaxing about working with your hands.”

“Come on. Don’t make me challenge you to a shooting match, Shepard. Everyone knows that looking through the scope of your gun is the biggest rush you could ever have.”

“Garrus, you do recall whom you are talking to? I’d totally kick your ass.” Kara put her work to the side, her attention now solely focused on him.

Her attention was exactly what he’d wanted, but now that he had it, he felt nervous. Garrus had suspected that he had feelings for Kara Shepard. It was even more clear to him now that it was only the two of them, spending time together without the threat of death breathing down their necks.

“We’ll have to test that one day.” He said, glancing at the drive core again. “Me versus you, no holds barred.”

The Commander nodded thoughtfully. “I like the way you think, Vakarian. But we’ll need an impartial judge.” Tapping a finger to her chin, she pondered it. “Kaidan?”

“You said impartial.”

“Hey! Kaidan can be impartial.” Kara assured him, not convincing in the least.

“Hah!” Garrus felt a thrill as she raised an eyebrow at his reaction. “Kaidan would be the least impartial of the crew. How about Wrex?”

“Wrex would try to outdo us himself. He can’t be allowed near any challenge that involved guns.” Kara put one hand up in the air followed by the other to drive home her point. “Wrex. Equals. Trouble.”

“Noted.”

“We could always use Tali. She might be the best choice.” Kara admitted, stretching her legs out to find a more comfortable position. “Less likely to join in and more likely to choose the winner based off of skill alone.”

Garrus nodded and mimicked Shepard’s position. “Good point.”

Kara adjusted her ponytail, silence filling the room. Garrus didn’t want to be the one to break it, but he knew something was bothering her. “Shepard…”

“Please, call me Kara. We’ve been through hell and back, Garrus. I think the least we could do is use each other’s first names.” She started to wrap the wire she’d been messing with around her fingers.

“Kara.” He said before coughing lightly. It felt strange, having her name on his tongue, but he liked it. “Uh, is everything alright? You seem to be trying to take your mind off of… things.”

Kara sighed, brushing hair out of her face and behind her ear. “There’s a lot on my mind.”

Garrus put a hand on her arm to gain her attention. She glanced up at him curiously. “I’m here if you need to talk.”

Kara bit her lip as if thinking whether she should or not. After a moment, she shook her head. “No, Garrus, it’s really ok.”

“Shepard…”

“It’s just- we’re going after Saren, a spectre and one of the best soldiers the Council has ever had, and I’m expected to know what to do. What if I’m not cut out for this life? What if I lose more people under my command? I don’t know if I can handle that.” Kara closed her eyes and shook her head, as if she was trying to dispel a bad memory.

Kaidan had told him what had happened on Eden Prime. The loss of Jenkins had hit her hard and he hadn’t realized that she was still warring with the guilt of his death. “That wasn’t your fault.”

“I know.”

Her voice was small, a whisper, and Garrus knew she didn’t believe him.

“Hey.” When she finally met his gaze, he wouldn’t let her look away. “You had nothing to do with Jenkins’ death. You had nothing to do with what happened on Eden Prime. That was Saren. Saren and his geth army. But you know what you did do?”

Kara shook her head, awed by his words and his delivery of them.

“You built a team that will not only help you stop Saren, but would go through fire for you, Shepard. Do you know why? Because you inspire us. You make us believe that we can do the impossible and without you, we’d be nothing but a group of mercenaries and disgraced C-Sec officers.” Garrus could feel the truth of his words as he spoke. “We’re with you, Kara. To the very end. Whether that end is our deaths or our victory, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

Garrus could see tears in her eyes, but she blinked them back. She said nothing, only stared at him. Her lack of a response worried him.

He recounted his words, trying to see if there was something he might have said that could have offended, but came up with nothing. He wondered if he could escape Engineering before she found her voice.

As Garrus decided on how he would excuse himself, Kara took his hand into hers, a bright smile on her face. “Thank you, Garrus. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you, either. You’ve become my best friend in the whole universe and that means everything to me.”

Garrus knew exactly what she meant. “Same here, Shepard.”

Kara smiled at him again, but this time it was a little dimmer. Not from sadness, but from exhaustion. He could tell she desperately needed sleep.

“You should get some rest.”

Kara blinked at him, trying to fight a losing battle against her eyelids. “I don’t need to sleep.” Garrus chuckled as she yawned, wide and loud. With a squeak, she snapped her mouth shut and looked at him sheepishly. “I guess you’re right. I could use a little shut eye.”

“I’m always right, Shepard.” He teased, feeling giddy when she rested her head against him.

Her eyes drooped as she whispered, “We’ll see about that when I wake up.”

As she finally drifted off, Garrus couldn’t wait to see what the universe had in store for him.


End file.
